The following background information may present examples of specific aspects of the prior art (e.g., without limitation, approaches, facts, or common wisdom) that, while expected to be helpful to further educate the reader as to additional aspects of the prior art, is not to be construed as limiting the present invention, or any embodiments thereof, to anything stated or implied therein or inferred thereupon.
Wastewater treatment and water reclamation are increasingly important aspects of urban planning and residential development. As population densities increase and new housing developments spread, existing municipal treatment systems may become strained. In some cases, processing capacity provided by existing municipal treatment systems may even hinder or constrain new residential development projects or urban growth. Moreover, providing and maintaining clean water resources are also increasingly important given the demands that growing populations place on existing fresh water supplies.
In an effort to reduce the strain on municipal wastewater processing facilities and simultaneously address water shortages, it may be advantageous for local government agencies and individuals to reclaim wastewater on-site at a residential level. In particular, wastewater produced by a household can be reclaimed for use in irrigation, flushing toilets, or other applications that may not require purified drinking water. Reclaiming even a modest percentage of wastewater has the potential to have a significant impact on fresh water resources.
By way of educational background, another aspect of the prior art generally useful to be aware of is that a traditional alternative to municipal wastewater treatment systems is to use a residential septic tank system. However, many traditional septic tank systems typically have a limited ability to accommodate even a temporary high inflow of wastewater. For example, if the flow rate of wastewater into some traditional septic tanks is too high, the system may become flooded resulting in the release of scum and sludge into the effluent flow. If the effluent is dispersed into a leach field, the scum and sludge may cause the leach field to clog and the system to eventually fail.
By way of educational background, another aspect of the prior art generally useful to be aware of is that deficiencies in traditional systems may be attributed, at least in part, to poorly managed wastewater transfer between tanks or chambers. In some traditional systems, wastewater is transferred between tanks or chambers via a waterfall or cascade of waterfalls. In other traditional systems, a sanitary tee joint is used to transfer wastewater between tanks or chambers. In a sanitary tee joint, a vertical tube (e.g., 4 inch diameter pipe section) is connected to the middle of a horizontal tube (e.g., 4 inch diameter pipe section) to form a tee joint. One end of the horizontal tube serves as the intake from a first chamber. Fluid from the first chamber enters the intake and flows out of the bottom of the vertical tube, which is submerged in the liquid of the adjacent recipient chamber.
By way of educational background, another aspect of the prior art generally useful to be aware of is that in some traditional septic tank systems, liquid transfer between tanks or chambers may largely be determined by the input to the tank system. For example, for systems with a waterfall type transfer, large input flows may cause fluid to rapidly cascade into downstream chambers at a rate that is substantially equal to the rate of the input flow. Similarly, systems that use a traditional sanitary-tee joint allow fluids to transfer between chambers at a rate that is substantially equal to the input flow rate. Using either traditional fluid transfer technique, a large input flow of wastewater may cause the wastewater to spend too little time being processed within the system before being flushed out as effluent. Additionally, large variations in the input flow rate may result in large variations in the quality of the processing that is achieved by traditional systems. Thus, it is believed, traditional systems with poorly managed fluid transfer may be vulnerable to overloading based on input volume sensitivity, which may in turn lead to inconsistent and potentially insufficient wastewater processing.
Accordingly, a wastewater treatment system that can accommodate varying input volume while modulating fluid transfer between chambers to facilitate effective processing is desired.
In view of the foregoing, it is clear that these traditional techniques are not perfect and leave room for more optimal approaches.